Robinhood Markets, Inc may well be croony and greedy by restricting the trading of certain stocks.

However, the legend of Robin Hood stems from private property and anti-oppression roots.

This article will depict the historical background behind the story of Robin Hood.

Robin Hood is a legendary English heroic outlaw traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green. He was a highly skilled archer and swordsman.

Robin Hood is famous for this claim: He is said to rob from the rich and give to the poor. 

He became a popular folklore figure in the Late Middle Ages and continues to be widely represented in literature, film, and television.

The myth of Robin Hood is part of a story collection of outlaws dating from the reign of King John also known as John Lackland (1166 –1216). In this historical collection between the XII and XIII century, there are other well-known and identified robbers like FitzWarin and Eustache le Moine (Black Monk) but the character of Robin Hood remains more enigmatic. 

There is a particularly outstanding feature in these folklore stories. In an age where the rule of law was deemed as the foundation of legitimacy, those who did not comply with the law were granted the rank of popular heroes. This is an utter break with the dominant paradigm during the reign of Henry II (1133-1189), the father of John Lackland.

Robin Hood on the Nottinghamshire Flag.

This anarchic trait of heroes demonstrates that the authority of John Lackland was considered oppressive and that tyranny led to the manipulation of laws. Thus, if an arbitrary dynast ruled the existing order, law enforcement and justice became the expertise of outlaws.

Robin Hood and his contemporaries were astute and merciless for their enemies but they deserved respect during this period. 

In these legendary tales, forests were widespread in England. During the middle-age, woods and uncultivated lands still occupied a large part of the territory and were the private domain of the king and his officers. The woods were protected by a series of restrictive laws for which no appeal was made possible even before the ecclesiastical courts.

These very unpopular privileges allowed the king and his followers to establish a vast land possession for hunting. Such wild places were also an ideal shelter for fugitives. That's why the forests of Sherwood and Barnsdale are so mentioned in the stories of outlaws.

The genesis of Robin Hood legend remains obscure. The first-ever allusion came in 1377 in Piers Plowman of William Langland but the fully-fledged hero appeared in the 15th century.

Robin Hood’s endeavors were reported in several texts among which: The Lyttle Geste of Robyn Hode presumably composed around 1400, Robin Hood and the Monk in 1450 and is a collection bringing together three old anonymous ballads collected by Thomas Percy in 1765.

None of these texts delivered clear chronological indications and no mention is made of King John. The only dating evidence is "the arrival of our sovereign Edward" which probably refers to a visit of Edward II (1284-1327) to Nottingham in 1324. However, different documents tend to prove that the legend would be older again.

In the Royal Judicial Archives, there is a reference to Easter 1262, referring to a request for forgiveness from the Sandleford Prior for seizing, without a warrant, the property of a fugitive named William Robehod.

This case can be associated with the event of Berkshire, in 1261, where the prior has already seized arbitrarily the possessions of a group of bandits, including a certain William, son of Robert the feverish.

There is every reason to believe that these two outlaws are the same person but whose name has changed during his transcription. The monk responsible for this task, who probably knew the legend of Robin Hood, could assimilate him to the outlaw.

This patronymic confusion is only the first in a long series and many robbers are nicknamed Robehods or Robynhods in the middle of the 13th century. The archives showed that, from that date and for almost a century, the outlaws voluntarily used the pseudonym Robin Hood or Little John.

As for the first Brother Tuck accrediting the legend, he was identified as Robert Stafford, who wreaked havoc in the Sussex between 1417 and 1429.

It is hard to locate with certainty the historical site of the legend. The literary corpus pinpoints it to the north, between Barnsdale and the Sherwood Forest. If one admits this premise, everything indicates that the myth was born from two different sources.

In 1521, the Scottish historian John Major reports that Robin Hood raged about 1193-1194 at the time of the attempted seizure of power of John Lackland against King Richard the Lionheart (1157-1199). This theory is robust enough.

Major Oak in Sherwood Forest

On 1225 the fifth of July, the Royal Court of Justice held its meeting in York where the assembly refers to the case of a fugitive named Robert Hod and bearing the nickname 'Hobbehod'. He is the only outlaw known whose birth name has a clear link with that of Robin Hood. 

There are other hoods at Wakefield, but none of them have been convicted of robbery. An epitaph discovered by Thomas Gale in 1702 offers a valid application for the site of the tomb of Robin Hood. Dated from 1247, it is located in Kirklees (also in Yorkshire), the place where, according to the legend, the popular hero was killed.

Now, we can establish a chronology by collecting the tenuous clues we own. Robin Hood would therefore have raged in the 1190s, reportedly declared as outlaw around 1225, died in 1247, and elevated to the rank of a hero from 1261. 

Academics, meanwhile, have combed the historical record for evidence of a real Robin Hood. English legal records suggest that, as early as the 13th century, “Robehod,” “Rabunhod” and other variations had become common epithets for criminals.

While most contemporary scholars have failed to turn up solid clues, medieval chroniclers took for granted that a historical Robin Hood lived and breathed during the 12th or 13th century.

However, the example of another famous bandit, Foulques FitzWarin, shows that these elements must be dealt with caution. We know that a certain Piers de Bruville has usurped the name of FitzWarin to act with impunity. The famous outlaw, furious, decides to ambush him. He captures his enemy in the house of Piers de Bruville’s gang and forces him to slaughter his men one by one.

The historical character of Foulques FitzWarin is much more interesting than that of the legendary Robin Hood. FitzWarin is a childhood friend of King John. The two young men, however, maintain a stormy relationship because, during a chess game that remained memorable, John threw the chessboard at the head of his companion.

The other replicates with a punch in the stomach of his aggressor who denounces him to his father. It is finally John who underwent a paternal correction aimed to pass him the taste for complaints.

By the death of his father, Foulques took over the direction of his ancestral estate in Whittington. But that was without counting on the grudge of his former princely playmate. As soon as he came to power, King John deprived FitzWarin of his rights for the benefit of his enemy Morys Fitzgerin. Foulques reacted by assassinating his competitor and initiated a three years retaliation and an outlawed war against his sovereign.

King John finally forgives him in 1203 and returns him to his Whittington estate. Foulques nevertheless joined the baronial rebellion in 1215 against John but reconciled again with him before the death of John. Foulques FitzWarin died around 1256-1257 and was almost a hundred years old.

Friar Tuck carries Robin on his back. 

It is not vain to assert that the fabulous legend of Robin Hood was interlaced with these historically proven facts. Likewise, the medieval French-English chronicles were nourished by the exploits of another real personage and known under the name Eustache the Monk (Eustache le Moine).

This famous pirate, nicknamed the Black Monk, seized island Sercq in 1205 and spread terror on the Channel waters until his capture off Sandwich and his beheading in 1217. 

We find in the legend of Robin Hood, some elements borrowed from the lifetime of Eustache and Foulques. Robin Hood uses the same tricks to fool his victims. We know, for example, that Eustache often disguises himself as a potter to escape his pursuers, while Foulques likes to pretend to be a coalman. 

This last one also attacked the agents of the king willingly, stealing their money and paying sumptuous dinners to which he invited them by force! There are other examples, such as the fantasies of the Black Monk who released his victims without robbing them if they told him the truth about the weight of their purses.

FitzWarin, for his part, preferred to challenge the king like Robin Hood duped the Sheriff of Nottingham, whom he attracted to the forest, kidnapped, invited to dinner, and then released. 

If this chronology is accurate, then these anecdotes are contemporary with the legend they inspired.

One thing is certain, the fictitious or real stories of the time attest to the strong resistance of the population against the abuses of King John.

Under the reign of Henry II, on the other hand, outlaws did not enjoy this popular support.

In the next post, I will elaborate on the capitalist stance of Robin Hood.